Tuesday, March 10, 2009

It's The Scarlet Letter Time!

The Scarlet Letter is one of the best works of American Literature, and it's really worth reading. As the first novel to be discussed in our LA Prose class, it's a good idea to focus on several themes. These are some common themes that appear in The Scarlet Letter:

1. Alienation
2. Breaking Society's Rules
3. Appearance vs Reality
4. Love Triangles
5. Religious Communities
6. The Nature of Evil
7. Identity and Society

Work in groups of four, and select one of the above themes and specify your topic for next week's presentation. Use powerpoint slides, and as always, use some quotations from the novel to support your analysis. Well, good luck researching!

VALERIE MINER IS COMING TO OUR CAMPUS

It's a great honor for our Department to receive a request from The U.S. Consulate as the host of an academic talk with a prominent writer and artist from USA. Prof. Valerie Miner is coming to talk on Creative Writing and Pedagogy in our Lidah Wetan campus, Wednesday, April 1st, 2009, at 1 p.m. All students of Literature Study Program (particularly, those taking Creative Writing and Theory of Literature I classes) are greatly encouraged to attend. Make use of the upcoming event to know more about the world of literature and creative writing. To get better acquainted with Prof. Valerie Miner, visit her website, http://www.valerieminer.com/.

STRUCTURALISM: Surface Structure and Deep Structure

Here's the upcoming theory for Theory of Literature I class discussion. Click the above title to get the article. While reading the article, also have this poem with you to see how Structuralism is used for the analysis in the article.

The Garden of Love by William Blake

I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore;

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briers my joys and desires.